# Get a domain's backlinks and referring domains from one API call

Call seo.backlinks with a domain and a limit, over REST or from an agent, and get JSON back: the domain's rank, total backlinks, referring domains and IPs, and a list of links with the source URL, anchor text, dofollow flag, rank and first seen date. One RouterGrowth key, no SEO tool subscription.

HTML page: https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/seo/backlink-api
Part of: [SEO tools](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/seo.md)

## The call

[`seo.backlinks`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/seo.backlinks): Backlinks and referring domains for a target domain.

Price on this network: $0.00007 per search plus $0.084 per call. The exact quote is shown before every run.

## What a real run returned

Run on 2026-10-19: 10 records in 1.3 s for $0.084693. Personal fields are masked. Ten links for a privacy-first analytics domain, out of 637,391 backlinks from 16,674 referring domains in the summary; many sit on privacy policy pages and footers.

| domain_from | anchor | dofollow | first_seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| www.discourse.org | Plausible | True | 2023-12-27 |
| string.is | Analytics | True | 2022-03-24 |
| erlef.org | Site Analytics | True | 2021-07-24 |

## How to do it

1. **Get a key.** Create a RouterGrowth API key. The same key covers SEO, enrichment and the other capabilities.
2. **POST the domain.** Send capability seo.backlinks with domain and limit, plus a max_cost.
3. **Read the summary.** rank, backlinks_total, referring_domains, referring_domains_nofollow and referring_ips describe the profile.
4. **Read the links.** Each item in backlinks has url_from, domain_from, url_to, anchor, dofollow, rank, domain_rank and first_seen.

## Ask it like this

- Pull 50 backlinks for our competitor's domain and list the referring sites that do not link to us. (`seo.backlinks`)
- Compare the referring domain counts of these four domains and tell me which one grew its links this year. (`seo.backlinks`, `seo.domain_overview`)
- Find our main SEO competitors, then get the top backlinks of each. (`seo.competitors`, `seo.backlinks`)

## Connect

MCP server: `https://api.routergrowth.com/mcp`

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http routergrowth https://api.routergrowth.com/mcp
```

```bash
npm install -g routergrowth && routergrowth setup
routergrowth run -c seo.backlinks -i '{"domain": "plausible.io", "limit": 10}'
```

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.routergrowth.com/v1/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ROUTERGROWTH_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"capability": "seo.backlinks", "input": {"domain": "plausible.io", "limit": 10}}'
```

## Worth knowing

- **Summary plus a sample of links.** The totals cover the whole profile. The links list holds up to your limit, ordered by rank.
- **Paid per search.** A call is one charge plus a small amount per link returned. The quote shows before the run.
- **Anchor text shows intent.** Anchors tell you how other sites describe the domain, as in the example where most read Plausible or Analytics.

## Questions

### Where does the backlink data come from?

The call runs on DataForSEO's backlink index through RouterGrowth.

### Can I get only dofollow links?

Each link has a dofollow flag, so filter the list in your code or ask the agent to.

### Does it show lost links?

It returns the current links with first seen dates. Tracking losses means comparing two runs over time.

### Can I pass a URL instead of a domain?

The call takes a domain.

## Related

- [Search volume, CPC and keyword ideas from one API call](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/seo/keyword-research-api.md)